Spiders anyone?

Last night we had dinner at a restaurant run by an NGO, Friends. They take street children and train them for work in hospitality. It's authentic Cambodian food. When I saw that tarantulas (deep fried) were on the starter menu I said "Why not? If not now, when?". Much to the surprise of our dinner companions, Rady and Tip, from DDD, I just popped one whole into my mouth. Quite tasty but a little weird. Jaymie and Bryn restricted themselves to the legs. Our dinner couldn't have been more interesting. These two guys are incredibly smart and well traveled. Tip's family left Cambodia in 1971 because they knew things were going to get bad. He grew up in France, went to college in Houston and has returned here to work. He's head of IT for DDD. Rady is of Chinese descent but has lived here - he has a brother in Philadelphia and relatives in California. He has worked for a bunch of different companies including Price Waterhouse Coopers and is head of HR. They both speak eloquently about their goals for the company and seem to understand the challenges of both a developing company and a developing country. Both of them speak English fluently and were able to find out more about the political scene here as well as more about their personal lives. What their typical weekend would look like and who they live with. Rady is married and lives in a house with his in-laws, and grandmother-in-law. They meet every morning for breakfast before dispersing to their jobs. We learned about the relationship between the ruling party and the opposition party and Rady and Tip's predictions about the political/economic development of their country. Jaymie and I are both so appreciative of the welcome we've received at DDD and so impressed with the amazing development of this company. Having a previous window on Bryn's involvement and now our own experience has enriched our understanding of this country beyond what I imagine most tourists get. We are following Bryn around "in awe".